Each year in January the TNSAR team puts on a Winter Wilderness Survival Program for 4th
Graders in the Lake Tahoe area, intended to educate the students on the correct actions to
take should they ever find themselves lost in the outdoors. This Program is not
intended to be comprehensive as much as it is designed to provide initial exposure
for the children in the ongoing lessons of living safely in the mountains.

The Winter Wilderness Survival Program for 4th Graders takes place on the school grounds
of 6 of the local schools, and usually takes a total of about 2-3 hours to complete.
Traditionally the schools which are visited include Prosser Charter, Incline Elementary,
Kings Beach, Rideout, Truckee Elementary, and Glenshire.
The program starts with an indoor group discussion with the entire 4th grade class,
highlighting the purpose of the training, the different components of the training,
and then inviting the kids to ask any questions they might have about TNSAR, searches,
skiing, etc. Once complete, the kids are then broken into groups of 6-10 kids each,
and taken outside to begin a a cycle through three different stations each of which focus on
different aspects of winter awareness.

Station 1.S.T.O.P. and Observation. The goal of this station is for the
students to memorize the S.T.O.P mnemonic and how it should be used. This is accomplished
by establishing a scenario where you are lost (this does not have to be in the snow,
and in fact is applicable in any situation where you may be lost). "You think
you might be lost, you're not sure where you are, what are you going to do?

Stop! Why should you stop? Does it help to panic? Don't go
further, don't get more lost. Don't panic!

Think! Use your head to gather information. Does anyone know
where you are? What do you have with you? What time is it?

Station 2.Shelters. The goal of this station is to teach the kids how to
build a shelter with any available materials.

Using ski equipment, tree branches, solid stationary objects (a tree or large rock),
and any other items we build a small shelter sufficient enough to stay dry and warm.
The kids are then asked "how else can you keep warm?". Exercises, wearing all your
available clothes, stuffing pine needles in your clothes, staying out of the wind,
don't sit directly on the snow, etc. A small shelter built in the best location possible
will go a long way towards keeping you warm and dry.

Station 3.Signals. The goal of this station is, once you have built a
shelter, to know how to make effective signals to get attention.

It's important that you know how to get someone's attention, even if you happen to
be resting in your shelter. What can you use and what can you do to let people know
you are here? You need to make the area around you look different than the rest of
the woods...make yourself BIG and OBVIOUS. Use a whistle (easier than
yelling all day long), cross your skis in the snow, stamp out a giant X in the
snow, and fill it in with pine needles, hang anything that you are not using in the
trees, etc. There are many ideas for signals, and it's always important to think of
all the possibilities.

By using props, a lot of enthusiasm, asking questions and getting the kids involved,
and ensuring their attention throughout, we are able to make the training fun yet
also make sure that the kids understand the seriousness of the lesson.

The goal of TNSAR is to conduct fast and safe rescues, and to help educate the
public on winter safety.
If you would like to help TNSAR in this cause, please use the following PayPal donate link. Thanks!